Simple Time Lapse Photos

Not long ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find an interval timer feature in one of the cameras that I was using. With this feature, you can record the progress of an “event” with a series of photos taken at a set time between each capture. It’s commonly referred to as time lapse photography. An example of time lapse is the way that a flower seems to magically grow before your eyes as it blossoms.

Since I was curious about using this feature, I looked for an appropriate subject. It just so happens that we had recently returned from a trip out west and brought back a small collection of “Mexican jumping beans“.

We set the camera on a tripod and placed the jumping beans in the center of the yellow sheet. Using the interval camera settings on the camera’s menu, we set the camera to shoot every 60 seconds. Here’s a sequence of photos taken one minute apart:

These photos prove that these jumping beans are earning their keep!

These photos were taken using a Nikon D5000. Several of Nikon’s point-and-shoot cameras also have built-in interval timers including the S10, S50, S200 and S500. Check your user’s manual to see if it’s a feature of your camera.